Thursday night, News 9 reported that students at the school were worried they might not be able to graduate because they didn't have a chemistry teacher. They were concerned that they wouldn't be able to get full credit for the class and meet state requirements.

But the school said that a new teacher was hired Friday and will start Tuesday.

"Her records have been reviewed by the Department of Education," said Superintendent John Freeman. "She has met with our faculty. She spent the day here getting used to the school."

Seniors said their regular chemistry teacher got sick three weeks ago, and a substitute was filling in. They said the substitute wasn't certified to teach labs or lessons required to get full credit for the class.

Freeman said the current chemistry teacher is working from home, drawing up lesson plans and correcting students' homework. He said she plans to do that until the end of next week when the new teacher is adjusted.

He said the school would never have let the issue prevent students from graduating.

"There are other resources that we could access to support our students, and we would not have any intention of abandoning our students," he said. "We take care of them and make sure they graduated."

Some of the resources include a virtual learning academy, help from another school district and a News 9 viewer who saw the initial report and immediately offered his help.

"We've had one of our citizens with an advanced degree in chemistry offer his support," Freeman said.

Freeman said that when it comes to hiring a science or math teacher, the number of applicants is low, sometimes making it a difficult, long process.

"Chemistry, biology and the sciences are critical shortage areas," he said. "It's difficult to attract a large number of candidates."

Freeman said the new chemistry teacher most recently taught in Massachusetts.